BLAMINACK - HOW TO BUILD A KETE HAND DRUM - PART 4

Here I am gluing the bottom end of the drum… this is a hands on matter! That is why I prefer this kind of glue. It washes off! Trust me on this matter… I have worn glue for days before I learned this.

Once finished evenly gluing all joints put the clamp back on and adjust all of the staves. Even them out top and bottom. The better that you do on this part the less sanding will be required, because the edges of each stave line up exactly with the next, creating a smoother curve. Not my car or house by the way… Those are the neighbors LOL

After adjusting the staves, attach two more hose clamps and tighten the drum evenly all around. Go over it tightening several times. Check that each joint has glue squeezing out a little. Use a wet cloth and clean out the excess glue from the inside of the drum. Make sure to spread it into any place where there may be slight gaps. Tighten it again. Check to be certain of the evenness again.

I am cleaning out the excess glue, and then I will leave it to cure overnight.

Once the glue is dried I use a hand plane to help remove the glue and begin to round off the corners of the joints. And then I use a pneumatic random orbital sander with very coarse grit sand paper…(I found a much more effective method for this! I discovered that using four-inch angle grinder with an aggressive sanding disc is PERFECT for this task)

Here is how I do it. This is a long process. This is just the beginning of the sanding. This stage is all about shaping the drum. This is where all the roundness comes in. Not enough time on this step and you will see it a lot when you have varnished the shell. Take your time here. Smooth out any roughness of the wood… Notice that the end of the staves is not even… I don’t stress perfection any place except the width of the staves and the angles. I will cut off the ends later to get a nice flat surface.

Here is the shell VERY rough sanded to 40-grit sandpaper. And wiped down with a wet rag to show the progress…. It is starting to look like something! (We are going all the way to at least 220 Grit)

Now I put a clamp back on to use as a marker to draw a line. I will use this line to cut off the ends of the shell to be at the finished length. I make this cut with a jigsaw. It leaves a nice clean semi flat edge.

I know my workspace is a total disaster area! Once I have cut both edges flat, and have a level end, I finish that up by sanding that area as flat as I can get it, and as level as possible. (This picture seems a bit out of proportion do to trying to get a picture while holding the camera and the saw at the same time…)